[Lee Chaerin’s POV]

            Darkness. That was all the thing that came into my sight whenever I opened my eyes. Have I turned blind? Silence. No sound came into my ears, even my own breath. Have I turned deaf? Cold, I felt my nerves have turned numb because of that. But strangely, a fragrance smell got into my nostril. A lavender smell which got fly by the spring wind. I still alive, it was a thing I believed. As I still breathed and I still can opened and closed my eyes. But... I can’t move my body as I felt my body was heavy, like it has turned into a statue. I tried to shout out loud, no sound came out from my mouth. My eyes, ears, nerves, felt like had lost its function. Where am I? I don’t know.

            Someone...

            Anyone there...

            Help me...

===

April, 2nd 2136 M, 04.23 am – Ezravie

Adamas’s Secret Laboratory – Lab.007

            A.S01.Ez.2136.01

            That strange name written on the white board which was hung on the lone bed in the 3x3 meters sized room. All the light inside that room was on, many machines got attached one after another. LED monitors showed different information in each second. Cables in various size lied on the tiled pavement like a group of dead snakes. Lied on the white bed was a beautiful young woman. She has a pair of cat-like eyes which was closed since she got in there until today. Her original black colored hair has changed into cobalt blue. She dressed in a white long blouse which was looked contrast with her usual military uniform with leader badge on her left arm. There were so many wires attached on her body which was connected to machines next to her bed. Both her hands as well as her bare foots got cuffed to the bed frame. Her usual rose tinted lips looked pale. She looked like a comatose patient whom has asleep for years. Tickling sound made of the tip of heels met the tile pavement rang around that room battled with the orchestra of machine’s beep sounds. A slender, tall lady with long wavy black hair got into that room. Her figure stopped right in front of the only one bed inside that room. Her brown eyes hovered a boredom look over the lying body on the bed.

            ”How long he intended to do this boring experiment?” She muttered as her eyes already shifted its focus to the monitors next to the bed.

            ”Even it’s you, you can’t enter this room without my permission.” 

            A grown-up male voice greeted the woman earlier the next second, made the latter turned her body to face the owner of that room properly. The man was undoubtedly taller than her, he has short black hair which got combed back neatly. A frown which turned into a smile plastered on his youthful handsome face. He entered that room with a cup of hot coffee in his right hand, while the left one hidden behind his white lab coat pocket.

            The lady crossed her hands on her chest. ”It’s no wonder if your result was unbearably long to get. You choose to lazy around rather than take care of your work.” She said sarcastically, more like mocking the man who barely placed his coffee cup on the small table in the corner of the room.

            ”How rude...” That man whined. His dark brown eyes behind round glasses looked at the beautiful lady then moved to the lying young woman on the bed. ”She has shown the effect of my final touch. Soon, she will awake and we can ‘use’ her to the max.”

            ”Soon.” The lady muttered that simple word while looked at the white colored ceiling above her. ”You looked confident at saying that word.” She looked at the man whom sat on the chair behind the control system of the machine worked in that room. The man didn’t reply her, his eyes as well as his attention got focused on the single LED monitor in front of him. His fingers were typing busily on the keyboard. The lady sighed, then chose to sit on the chair placed across the bed. ”There is a foreign magic energy surrounded this place. You have known it, haven’t you ... Changmin?” The lady asked without looked at the man.

            The man whom got called Changmin stopped his finger’s movement as he leaned on his chair. He got the glasses off then placed it on the desk. ”It’s not Council 165’s, but The Sleepwalker’s. To think that they just a bunch of baby chickens but gifted with enormous yet extraordinary magic power. The fallen Lee noble house was still the same like their legend, filled with numerous gifted magician.” He rose up from his chair, walked towards the bed then eyed the lying body on the bed for a moment. ”Not only that. They produced a perfect ‘magic vessel’ too.”

            The lady followed as she looked at the unconscious young woman there. ”No wonder elder Choi Raesung chose her even though she is the part of Lee.”

            Changmin shifted his attention to the lady sat on the chair across the bed. Her long wavy black hair was at her back, hung freely. Her perfect y body got dressed by a simple black off-the-shoulder gown underneath a long white lab coat. For a mere scientist, she looked a bit glamorous. Thick dark red lipstick colored her medium sized lips perfectly, as well as the thick black eyeliner which was made her eyes looked sharper. Shade of purple colored her eyelids, and pinkish blush-on decorated her cheek. A chain shaped gold bracelet on her skinny wrist, as well as triangular gold earrings and gold necklace around her tall neck. A pair of glossy black colored heels completed her appearance.

            ”Then, what about your ‘work’, Sunmi Sunbae?” Changmin asked the lady, curious about her reply.

            ”Hmmm... mine?” Sunmi paused, didn’t look interested at all about the topic brought by her junior. ”He’s doing good. He reacted far beyond my prediction.” She said as she examined her manicured nails one by one. Changmin was just could nod to respond to that answer. ”Speaking about the foreign magic energy out there. Isn’t that thing should be managed by Leo’s team?” Changmin questioned as he walked back to his chair. He loosen the black tie which already hung loosen around the collar of his pale blue colored shirt.

”Ah... geurae? It’s no wonder they looked like zombie when I visited their HQ.” Sunmi replied uninterested. ”To think that they could sent that foreign magic here, The Sleepwalkers is really far more interesting than that bunch of fool magicians owned by Council 165.” She added.

            A sudden knock on the door stopped the conversation of the two. A young girl appeared behind the door with her smile, then approached both Sunmi and Changmin. ”Leo Oppa’s team found something interesting. Elder Choi Raesung wanted all of us gather in the meeting room, now.” Without any addition talk, that young girl left the room. Sunmi and Changmin looked at each other, a bit curious with the short information just now.

            ”Something interesting? What do you think about that, Changmin?” Sunmi asked. Actually, she wasn’t interested with that information as right now all she wished was doing nothing after spending all of her energy stayed awake for a week nonstop just to monitor her ‘work’. But, the name of Choi Raesung got mentioned before, which meant she has to attend whatever the meeting it was. And she hated it.

            ”Who knows? Maybe... they have found the owner of that foreign magic energy? You know it too, what kind of work did by Leo’s team.” Changmin tidied up his cloth then headed toward the door of that lab room. ”Kajja. I didn’t want to hear Elder Choi’s tutor.”

===

April, 2nd 2136 M, 05.13 am – Ezravie

Adamas’s Secret Laboratory – Meeting room

            Choi Raesung accompanied by his two loyal assistant, Choi Miho and Choi Sunho, had stood at the first row. Behind them, all the elite scientists owned by Choi noble house followed suit. In front of them, a large screen showed the current situation of their operation. Leo – the leader team of strategy and research development department, bowed respectfully toward all the attendants in that room. Both, Sunmi and Changmin were the last ones who arrived there.

            ”Since a month ago, there is a foreign magic energy which surrounded our main base also this laboratory. This kind of magic energy had different base pattern with ordinary magic which is made it difficult to identify in short time.” Leo started explaining as he showed the simulation of that foreign magic energy has surrounded that place like what he has said before. ”Our team has tried our best to find its owner, and after two weeks...” Leo paused as he showed another data on the screen. ”She is the owner of that magic energy.”

            Unlike the other scientists whom looked at the current data showed on the screen, Changmin got interested in the other data. It was the data which placed above the current data. The data which contained the base pattern of that foreign magic energy. Changmin has seen something like that, based on that foreign chain structure he could conclude what kind of that foreign magic energy. Ancient plant type magic. That type, was far stronger than current plant type magic. Changmin smiled wryly at that realization, he thought that type magic only exist in history. Then he moved to the detailed information about that magic’s owner.

            ”She is the one who responsible in restoring the old magic circuit area both in Crystalise and Osiris after that big destruction back then.” The last explanation brought by Leo caught Changmin’s attention.

            ”The old magic circuit area after the battle, you have seen it, haven’t you Changmin?” Sunmi whispered that question without looked at Changmin.

            ”Yeah, I even can’t take the leftover magic which got used during the battle there. She isn’t restoring that place only, she has modified it. It means, she’s good in healing too.”

            Sunmi listened to her junior’s answer silently. Her eyes still focused in the data showed on the screen. ”With that magic too, she found out our main base and this laboratory. It seems that magic is far complicated than we can expected.”

            ”I thought, you called all of us here aren’t just to be informed that fact, Leo.” Choi Raesung spoke for the first time, succeed in making all the whispers and murmurs died down. ”Show us the main course of this meeting.”

            Leo changed the appearance on the screen in one click. In front of them, spread a map of Strelizien continent with the vast Villosa Sea, Vivienne Peninsula which placed at northeast region, then the famous dangerous Vreutzer Ocean, and the secluded archipelago which located next to it, Decelenthya archipelago. ”Since we had found the owner of that magic, we used our latest echolocation technology to detect where she was. A week ago, we found her at Vivienne Island and last night, she moved from that unpopulated island to somewhere we still don’t know. They kept moving to the east.” Leo explained as he pointed the current position of the said magician. ”Our team had sent one of our best fighter, Kim Taeyeon, to trail her.” He added. ”Just li